Tate Modern: Six-year-old thrown from 10th floor of London art gallery in critical condition as teenager arrested
Boy taken to hospital by air ambulance as tourist attraction placed on lockdown
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A teenager has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a child was thrown from the viewing platform at London’s Tate Modern gallery.
The six-year-old boy is believed to have been thrown from the tenth floor platform and fell to the gallery’s fifth floor roof.
He was treated at the scene and taken to hospital by London’s Air Ambulance on Sunday afternoon.
Visitors were prevented from entering or leaving as the Tate was placed on lockdown while emergency services attended the scene.
One Twitter user reported being “evacuated under a huge panic from the members’ lounge” during the incident.
The six-year-old is in a critical condition in hospital, the Metropolitan Police said.
A 17-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.
“There is nothing to suggest that he is known to the victim,” a police spokesperson said.
The teenager remains in police custody.
“A number of members of the public are assisting police with witness statements,” the spokesperson added.
“Visitors to the gallery have been allowed to leave.”
Eyewitnesses earlier took to social media to discuss the incident.
“Tate Modern being evacuated just as I was about to see the Natalia Goncharova exhibition,” said one.
“Staffer said it’s because someone was standing on the roof, or maybe a baby was thrown off it? Hope it’s not something that horrific.”
Another witness claimed that “some nutcase threw the baby out” of the observation deck at the gallery.
Footage of the ambulance arriving at the scene was posted on social media by a local resident who said: “Been told a person/child has fallen off viewing gallery and trapped between the two buildings.”
Arnd Haller tweeted: “Someone has apparently fallen from the balcony in the 10th floor of Tate Modern. That’s why all doors are locked right now and air ambulance arrived.”
The London Ambulance Service said that after they were called at 2.40pm and two ambulance crews were sent to the scene along with the hazardous area response team and the air ambulance.
“We treated a person at the scene and took them to hospital as a priority,” a spokesman added.
The Tate Modern, a former power station on London’s South Bank, was the UK’s most popular tourist attraction in 2018, with 5.9 million visitors.